Scientists have discovered one of the oldest creatures on Earth.

In the Yangtze Gorges in southern China, traces of one of the most ancient creatures from those that ever inhabited the Earth were discovered. The prehistoric millipede Yilingia spiciformis is over half a billion years old.

“The ancient creature, resembling a modern centipede in its appearance, left traces of it. The length of his body was about 27 centimeters, and the width was from 5 to 20 millimeters, ”the scientists suggest.As it turned out as a result of research, the body of the millipede consisted of fifty segments:

“Typical organisms with segmented symmetrical bodies that are able to make simple decisions, for example, regarding the direction of their movement, appear quickly enough and this is one of the most important stages of evolution.” The most important conclusion of this study is that about 99% of all living organisms on the planet belong to such creatures, called “bilateria”.

The exception is only sponges, lamellar and similar organisms, scientists say:

“The discovery of traces of this ancient millipede is a very important confirmation that even before the so-called Cambrian explosion, which supposedly occurred 540 million years ago, living organisms existed on Earth,” scientists say.

And they add: “And not just organisms, but organisms capable of purposefully moving around. And this, in turn, makes it possible to advance more deeply in the question of studying evolution itself. ”